A new daily rainfall record was set Monday in Providence, Rhode Island, according to the National Weather Service, and it was still raining Tuesday. All that water caused some serious problems.
Cleanup is ongoing on Peace Street, where the roof of a commercial building collapsed due to the heavy rain. Four tenants now have to move their businesses, and they might not get back for months.
Jerry Batista, the property's owner, narrowly escaped as the roof collapsed.
"I was about 20 feet away when I heard the cracks," he said. "We're seeing leaks in areas we've never seen leaks before."
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Monday's heavy rain proved to be too much for the commercial building.
"The last thing I felt was water, like, around my legs," Batista said. "There must've been a lake on top of that thing."
Rain continued Tuesday in Providence as Batista and his father, Miguel, began cleaning up the property they've been developing. This setback is expected to postpone the finished work several years.
"I'm glad, you know, we're OK," said Miguel Batista.
More on the flooding in Rhode Island
The storm hit Providence particularly hard. Monday afternoon, a man caught in a flash flood was rescued from his submerged vehicle by neighbors. About 100 yards of Interstate 95 flooded.
All that water tied up traffic again Tuesday — it poured into the Providence DMV office. Eighty-five drivers couldn't take their tests at the Melrose Street location because it was closed due to high water.
"The staff arrived here this morning, about 7 o'clock, to find about 20 inches of water in the building," said Rhode Island Department of Revenue spokesman Paul Grimaldi.
At Brown University, first-year students who just moved into dorms off the Keeney Quad are now drying out after water seeped into their building's first floor.
All the rain postponed the university's Opening Convocation exercises until Saturday.
"It's a tradition that a lot of people care about," said freshman Jack Budofsky.
On Peace Street, there is a lot more work to be done.
"Now we've got to see how we can make the other parts of the building safe enough to be occupied while we work on what needs to happen here," explained Jerry Batista.
